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Richard M. Geerdes NCE, president and CEO of the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA), offered NAMA's support of H.R. 5512, the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008. NAMA was invited to appear before the House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology by Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez, committee chairman.

In his testimony on behalf of NAMA's nearly 1 million members nationwide, Geerdes explained that H.R. 5512 is important because in its current form it provides two key benefits. First, it keeps costs down for the customers who use the country's vending machines, and second, it avoids millions of dollars of additional expense for the nation's owner-operator run vending industry by providing that future coins will work in existing coin acceptance equipment without modification to that equipment.

Said Geerdes, "In its current form and after very productive collaboration with your Committee staff, H.R. 5512 now provides that future coins, while reducing production costs for the taxpayer, must work in existing coin-acceptance equipment in our country's vending machines and anywhere where coins are used without modification to that equipment. NAMA, on behalf of the food and refreshment vending industry, appreciates very much this fine-tuning of H.R. 5512 from both a practical and cost-to-the-industry standpoint, and the opportunity to work with your Committee staff to make H.R. 5512 as practical and beneficial as possible."

According to Geerdes, H.R. 5512 promotes the financial interests of both consumers and taxpayers as well as those of the economy. "Today, it is even more apparent that every effort to assist small businesses to operate more productively and to invest more dollars to that end, and to help keep vending machine user costs down for American consumers and taxpayers is vital for the U.S. economy's health and growth," he said.

He added, "We at NAMA share your committee's interest in protecting consumers from unnecessary higher prices and in saving the taxpayer money. We agree that rising prices for copper, nickel and zinc require an examination of the alloys used in making U.S. coins, but we submit that such an examination should be just one element in broad, fundamental coin and currency reform. Any such reform should include replacing dollar bills with dollar coins, which would save the taxpayer at least $600 million a year."

Geerdes concluded his testimony by offering NAMA's cooperation and support to the House Committee on continuing initiatives to modernize the nation's coins and currency.